TEACHER FACTORS AS PREDICTOR OF STUDENTS PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL STUDIES IN NOMADIC SCHOOLS IN NORTH EASTERN STATES OF NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Social studies is essential for our daily life and plays a crucial role in school curricula, especially in the nomadic education; yet pupils’ performance in the subject remain very low especially in the north eastern Nigeria. This study intended to find out whether teacher characteristics, teaching competency, teacher workload and teachers’ attitudes towards Social studies affect nomadic pupils’ performance in Social studies or not. The study adopted research survey design. The study was conducted in six states of north eastern Nigeria, which has a total of 171 nomadic schools with a population of 326 Social studies teachers. The sampled size was 132 teachers across sixty nomadic schools selected randomly at rate of 10 schools per state. The study used structured questionnaire for data collection. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse data collected. The study found that teachers’ background characteristics influence performance of pupils in Social studies. Also, the performance in social studies was significantly influenced by the teachers competency. Also, the rates at which the teachers are being loaded with works negatively affect academic performance of students in social studies. Also, the attitude of Social studies teachers influence pupils academic performance. The study recommends that the recruitment of Social studies teachers should be based on the qualification, while those in the system should be sponsored for further studies.

Keywords: Teachers Factors, Students Performance and Social studies